What 4e Products are worth getting for a Non-4e Gamers

[vonmolkew]

Apart from minis, I would also point out that the Dungeon Tiles, 4E branded, are quite nice and if you are so inclined, multiple packs of those will find a use at any gamer's table.

Definitely the Dungeon Tiles. I also got a copy of the Monster Vault. It has a ton of monster counters in it that serve to replace miniatures.....over 200 of them. The book inside would be of no use, so if you can find it cheap somewhere (like a Borders that is closing), it might be worth it.

 

[scourger]

...I was a big 3.x junkie that moved on to Savage Worlds...

Me, too; so here are a couple of jewels I really like for 4e. First and foremost is Gamma World. It plays a lot like Savage Worlds: everything you need is in 1 box, the rules are simplified, and maps & counters are included. It is very fire & forget. I like it and bought the 2 expansions and a few boosters of cards. I added a deck of cards for Savage Worlds-style initiative, and I use minis for the heroes & allies; but otherwise I use it as written. I think it is a great use of the 4e game and I lament that the similar Ravenloft RPG (announced at GenCon 2010) has been cancelled.

Second is Hammerfast. I am a sucker for dwarven-themed adventures, so this one is center-up-the-plate for me. I like the theme, almost enough to get 4e to run it; but more likely I would do it for 3.0 or even Savage Worlds. It's definitely worth getting.

 

[Harlekin]

The Plane Above and Underdark are the two best generic fluff books that were written for 4the edition. Underdark is a very atmospherically dense description of the Subterranean kingdom.And The Plane Above is among the best books on the planes written for any edition of the game. Particularily if you are interested in epic conflicts where the PCs shake the pillars of heaven, this is a great book.

However, remember that since ~06 Wotc is not producing sourcebooks with millions of fiddly details anymore. The books only describe their topic with a broad brush, giving you many concepts and ideas and give you a lot of help in incorpotating these ideas in your game.

 

[Fifth Element]

Hope that is helpful!

"Name some good 4E products."
"Try Pathfinder."
...

 

[Fifth Element]

Second is Hammerfast. I am a sucker for dwarven-themed adventures, so this one is center-up-the-plate for me. I like the theme, almost enough to get 4e to run it; but more likely I would do it for 3.0 or even Savage Worlds. It's definitely worth getting.

I second Hammerfast. Definitely a lot of meat on its bones. Vor Rukoth is similar but not quite as good; I think it tries to cover too much and spreads itself a bit thin.

 

[amerigoV]

"Name some good 4E products."
"Try Pathfinder."
...

Now now, be nice. I am avoiding Pathfinder as a buddy of mine runs that material. As a player, I agree that it is good quality stuff. I also picked up the Pathfinder campaign setting - very very good.

 

[pemerton]

Every 4E product (at least the ones put out by WotC) that I have read or used has been 90% or more crunch. If you are looking for flavor/fluff, I can't say that WotC has anything to offer.

I don't know what products you've read, but I disagree with your second sentence.

The Manual of the Planes for 4e is mostly flavour, and sketches the 4e cosmology.

The Plane Above, the Plane Below and Underdark are heavy on flavour and elaborate the 4e cosmology. Together with Open Grave and Demonicon they are probably the best 4e books. These latter two books also have a lot of interesting flavour, but have lots of monster stats also, which would require some adapting to be useful for non-4e gamers.

For what it's worth, I think the 4e cosmology is worth looking at if you want a cosmology where it is expected that the players will engage in the myths of the world as part of playing the game, rather than treating it simply as a backdrop for play.

 

[Jhaelen]

The Manual of the Planes for 4e is mostly flavour, and sketches the 4e cosmology.

True. But the question is: Is it 'flavour' that is useful to someone still playing 3e?

All of the 4e books with a good amount of 'flavour' are updates of 3e or 2e books. So there really isn't anything in them for someone who already owns the old books.

Personally, I liked several 4e treatments better than previous incarnations of the books. One reason was that they _don't_ have as much 'flavour' as the older books. Imho, they have sufficient 'flavour' _and_ the mechanics to support it _and_ they contain material that can be immediately used 'as-is' in a game session.

Older books tend to be very useful when preparing for a session but not so much during a game.

 

[pawsplay]

Apart from minis, I would also point out that the Dungeon Tiles, 4E branded, are quite nice and if you are so inclined, multiple packs of those will find a use at any gamer's table.

How do they compare to the Paizo GameMastery tiles?

 

[Stormonu]

How do they compare to the Paizo GameMastery tiles?

The 4E tiles are double-sided and sturdier. They also tend to be more generic. I have most of the old sets (none of the 3d ones), and I recently picked up the City set, very nice.

Also, I second the monster vault if you don't want to hunt down the plastic minis. Likewise, I found the adventure that comes with Monster Vault to be very interesting, and I think it'd make an excellent Savaged adventure.